When the MLB announced that Denver would receive the All-Star Game, people claimed Colorado and Georgia had similarly restrictive voting rules. And that’s nonsense.
DENVER – Only in America can a sports team trade in their best player plus $ 50 million and be rewarded.
On Tuesday, Major League Baseball (MLB) officially awarded the Colorado Rockies the 2021 MLB All-Star Game.
The Atlanta Braves were scheduled to host the game in July, but MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred moved the game out of Georgia under the new electoral law passed by lawmakers and signed last month.
Despite what you may have read, Colorado doesn’t have any more restrictive electoral laws than Georgia.
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Voting options
Each active registered voter in Colorado will receive a voting slip in the mail.
Inactive voters do not automatically receive ballots. Inactive voters are those whose ballots have been returned undeliverable, who have left their state, or who have failed to vote in two consecutive general elections.
Here’s how Colorado voters decided to vote in the November 2020 election:
- 3,092,903 – Postal voting
- 198,645 – personal
Submitting a postal ballot may mean sending it back in the mail, dropping it in a Dropbox, or handing it back. In 2020, 94% of Colorado voters used their postal vote. Only 6% voted personally.
Compare that to Georgia during the 2020 pandemic.
- 1,316,943 – Postal voting
- 3,681,539 – personal
In Georgia, 74% of voters still cast a personal ballot, compared to 26% who used a postal ballot, known in Georgia as a postal ballot.
In Georgia, voters have to apply for a postal vote, they are not sent to every voter.
Under the new electoral law, voters have less time to request a postal vote. It used to be six months, now it’s between 11 and 78 days after the election. With certain exceptions, a voter wishing to vote by post in each election must request it in each election.
If a Georgian voter wishes to personally cast a preliminary ballot in a district that is not their district, they cannot do so until after 5:00 p.m. on election day.
Dropboxing
Colorado voters had access to 397 dropboxes for the 2020 election. State legal requirements only required 302 to do so. That is almost 100 more than required by law.
In counties with a large voter population and more than 250,000 active registered voters, there must be one Dropbox for every 12,500 voters.
For the rest of the state, it’s basically one Dropbox for every 15,000 voters.
Colorado Dropboxes are open 24 hours a day, starting 15 days before election day. You are monitored by surveillance video at all times.
In Georgia, the use of dropboxes will be reduced for future elections. The requirement is now one Dropbox per 100,000 voters. The drop boxes are located within the early voting venues and are only open during the early voting hours. The early voting ends on the Friday before election day, so the drop boxes also close at this time. You will be personally monitored by an election officer, law enforcement, or security officer.
Voter registration
Colorado allows same-day voter registration. A person can register to vote and cast a ballot on election day.
In Georgia, voters must register at least 29 days before election day.
Voter id
Both states require a voter card at a certain phase of the vote.
Colorado needs it in the beginning.
ID is required when you register to vote.
It is also required whenever a voter personally casts a ballot.
If this is the first time a voter returns a postal ballot, they will be required to provide ID if they have never voted or shown ID in Colorado before.
Colorado offers 16 different ways to provide an ID, not just a driver’s license or a state-issued ID.
Voting ID in Colorado means:
- Colorado driver’s license
- Identity card issued by Colorado
- US passport
- U.S. government issued employee ID card
- Pilot license
- US military ID with photo
- Copy of current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck with name and address
- Medicare or Medicaid card
- Certified copy of the birth certificate
- Certified naturalization document
- University ID with photo
- Veteran’s ID with photo
- Tribal membership card
- Verification that the voter is resident in a group housing complex
- Verifying that the voter is committed to the Department of Human Services
- Written correspondence from the county sheriff or proxy indicating that the voter is incarcerated in the county jail or detention center
Georgia also requires an ID to personally vote and offers six different types of ID:
- Georgia driver’s license
- Georgia-issued identity card
- US passport
- U.S. government issued employee ID card
- US military ID with photo
- Tribal photo ID
Georgia voters who cast a postal vote must provide their driver’s license or state-issued ID number or the last four digits of their social security number.
Election campaign
Campaigning is not permitted within 30 meters of a Colorado polling station.
Voters cannot stand up for a candidate or issue within 30 meters of a polling station entrance or drop box. This includes wearing hats, t-shirts, pins, or other choice of clothes.
Campaign worker “comfort teams” can offer water, snacks, and other items to people waiting in line to vote, as long as they are not wearing campaign clothing.
Colorado doesn’t have long lines where food or drink is needed as a fraction of the voters cast their votes in person.
The new Georgian law made it illegal to give money, gifts, food or drink to voters within 150 feet of a polling station or within 25 feet of voters in line.
Unsupervised self-service water stations are allowed.
Ballot selfie
Colorado voters can legally take a photo of their completed ballot paper.
It is illegal to take a picture of a voting slip in Georgia.
Ballot Tracking
Both Colorado and Georgia use Ballot Trax to track the status of your voting slip, except Denver uses Ballot Trace.
Dominion voting systems
With the exception of two Colorado counties, Douglas and Garfield, both Colorado and Georgia use Dominion voting machines.
Rulemaking
In Colorado, the legislature is responsible for the bills that govern the flow of elections. The Foreign Minister takes care of the establishment of the rules for the implementation of the laws passed by the legislature.
In Georgia, the new electoral law has deprived the foreign minister of this power and transferred it to the state legislature. The state parliament has given itself more power over the administration of elections.
COMMENT: Colorado’s voting system is a non-partisan success story
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